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A SHORT HISTORY 

OF 

MORAL THEOLOGY 



BY 
REV. THOMAS SLATER, S.J. 

AUTHOR OF "A MANUAL OF MORAL THEOLOGY" 



NEW YORK, CINCINNATI, CHICAGO 

BENZIGER BROTHERS 



PRINTERS TO TUB 
HOLY APOSTOLIC SEE 



1909 



•s 






^ermtssu Superiorum, 

R. SYKES, S.J., 

Praep. Prov. Anglicae. 



Nilitl ©bstat. 



Imprimatur* 



REMY LAFORT, 

Censor Librorum. 



^ JOHN M. FARLEY, 

Archbishop of New York, 



New York, July 3, 1909. 



© 




r. a 246' 


^43 


SEP 20 


1909 



Copyright, 1909, by Benziger Brothers. 



A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL 

THEOLOGY 

Ethics has a special place in the Christian religion. 
Lactantius, writing under the Emperor Constantine, points 
out this fundamental difference between paganism and 
the true religion. Pagan religion, he says, is concerned 
only with external rites and ceremonies performed in honor 
of the gods ; it gives no precepts of righteousness and virtue ; 
it does not form and cultivate men's characters. 1 On the 
other hand, ethics forms an essential part of the Christian 
religion. Christ was called Jesus because He came among 
us to save us from our sins. This He did not only by 
atoning for them, but by His example, His teaching, and 
His grace He showed us how to lead good lives and enabled 
us to do it. He came to do and to teach, so that not only 
His words but His actions, too, were lessons to us in con- 
duct. He proposed Himself to us as the Way by which 
we should walk; He bade us follow His example; He 
taught us to learn of Him meekness, humility, and all 
virtues. In Him God, our Creator and Lord, was revealed 
to us; He is our first beginning and last end. To Him 
we must refer and order our whole lives and our every 
action. We are His stewards, and when life comes to an 
end each of us will be called upon to render a strict account 
to Him, as our judge, of every thought, word, and action of 

1 De Divinis Instil., iv, c. 3. 



4 A SHORT HISTORV OF MORAL THEOLOGY 

our lives. Heaven will be the reward of the faithful serv- 
ant, eternal suffering in hell will be the just punishment 
of the wicked. 

Before finally quitting the earth Our Lord founded His 
Church, a hierarchical society of men, to continue the work 
which He had begun for the sanctification and salvation 
of the whole human race. His last solemn commission 
to His apostles was a command to teach men to observe 
all that He had commanded; certain truths had been 
revealed to them concerning God, as well as moral rules 
for their guidance, but even the truths concerning God were 
not merely speculative; they, too, were revealed for the 
sanctificar ion and salvation of men. A duty of submission 
of the intellect, under pain of eternal damnation, was laid 
on all who heard the Gospel preached. The basis of Chris- 
tian morality thus rests firmly established on the word of 
God, requiring unwavering faith, not on the uncertain and 
shifting sands of human opinion. That Gospel contained 
not only moral precepts which are obligatory on all, but 
counsels also of great perfection which those who had the 
moral strength were encouraged to adopt as rules for the 
conduct of their lives. The perfect holiness of God Him- 
self was held up as the model which they were to imitate 
and the lofty ideal at which they were ever to aim. 

This revelation of Christ was committed to the Church 
as a sacred deposit to be faithfully kept, guarded from all 
admixture of error, and diligently preached to men for 
their instruction, guidance, sanctification, and salvation. 
The Catholic Church has always understood that this was 
the object of her foundation by Jesus Christ. That was 
her mission, to preach the Gospel, to keep the deposit of 
faith, to teach what Christ had revealed, and not to allow 



A SHOBT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 5 

it to be changed or corrupted even by an angel from heaven. 
It is the boast of the Catholic Church that by the assistance 
which Christ promised her, through the constant guidance 
of the indwelling Spirit of Truth which He sent down upon 
her, she has faithfully accomplished her task. In spite of 
enemies within and without, in defiance of the hostile 
powers of hell and of the unbelieving world, she has per- 
sisted through the ages in preaching in season and out of 
season the divine revelation which was committed to her 
faithful keeping. At first sight it might seem that no his- 
tory of such a system of doctrine is possible. History is 
the scientific narration of the varying fortunes and changes 
which befall the subject of it. What history can there be 
of a system of doctrine which has always been the same? 
The Christian revelation as taught by the Catholic 
Church does indeed always remain the same in itself, 
objectively, as it was completed when the last of the 
apostles died. This revelation, and nothing else, the Church 
was commissioned to keep and to preach to the end of time 
for the salvation of men. It is the Church's greatest boast, 
as it is her highest claim to our gratitude, that she has 
ever preserved unsullied through the ages the divine teach- 
ing of Jesus of Nazareth. No man ever taught like Him. 
The moral doctrine which He inculcated by word and by 
deed is the loftiest ideal of conduct which has ever been 
manifested to the world. It cannot be improved upon, 
and it is impious to attempt to change it. The Catholic 
denies that it has been changed in the Catholic Church. 
Non-Catholic historians of Christian morals profess to 
discover instances of change, but this is due to their own 
philosophical or religious presuppositions. Thus when 
the Lutheran Dr. Luthardt discovers in the "Didach6," 



r A SHOUT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 

written Bfl he acknowledges at the end of the first century, 
"the beginnings of a false view of works," ' we reply that 
the same view of works appears in the documents that 
make up the New Testament, and that it is not false. 
Lecky discovered a change of view as to the lawfulness of 
taking human life when Christianity became the official 
religion of the Roman Empire. 2 In proof of this he quotes 
Lactantius and one or two other Fathers who held that it 
is never lawful to take human life. It would not be difficult 
to quote instances of Christian writers up to our own days 
who have held the same doctrine, and one might deduce 
therefrom an argument to show either that Christian 
morality had progressed, or deteriorated, or had remained 
stagnant for nineteen centuries, according to the exigen- 
cies of one's philosophical system. Harnack discovers 
the sources of Catholic monachism in the writings of St. 
Methodius. 3 The Catholic sees them writ large in the 
Gospel of St. Matthew. 

These instances will show why the Catholic cannot 
accept the accounts of growth, change, and decay which 
are given in many so-called histories of Christian morals. 
Nevertheless, he allows that there is a progress and de- 
velopment which admits of being traced historically. 
The Catholic Church has always been explicit on this point. 
After teaching that the revealed doctrines of the Faith 
were not proposed by God to man's intellect to be im- 
proved upon like some philosophical system, but were 
committed to the Church as a divine deposit to be faith- 
fully kept and infallibly explained, the Council of the 

1 History of Christian Ethics, p. 117. 
a History of European Morals, ii, p. 42. 
8 History of Dogma, iii, p. 110- 



A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 7 

Vatican could find no better terms in which to describe 
true development of that doctrine than those which had 
been used by St. Vincent of Lerins in the fifth century. 
"Therefore," it says, "let the understanding, knowledge, 
and wisdom of each and of all, of individuals as well as 
of the whole Church, increase and make much and great 
progress through the ages and the centuries; but only in 
its own line, that is, in the same truth, in the same sense, 
and in the same thought." * Change in Christian dogma 
and moral we refuse to accept or to acknowledge; we 
readily admit that there has been and ought to be de- 
velopment. The precepts of Christian morality have not 
always been equally well understood; what was obscure 
and uncertain has been made more clear and certain. 
The existence of different conditions, circumstances, and 
wants, in different ages and countries, necessitated some 
change in the adjustment of the teaching to the varying 
surroundings. New duties arose from new positive legisla- 
tion. Besides, the science of Christian morals is not a 
mere exposition of the moral precepts of the Gospel and of 
the positive legislation of the Church. Books have been 
written containing such an exposition in the very words 
of Scripture, like the "Speculum" of St. Augustine, and 
the "Scintillse" attributed to Venerable Bede, 2 but such 
as these are not works of moral theology. The science of 
moral theology arranges its subject-matter in an orderly 
and logical way ; it shows the grounds and the reasons of 
the doctrine, it harmonizes part with part so as to form 
a compact and systematic body of doctrine. All this is 
the work of time and of many minds, and it admits of his- 

1 Vatican, sess. iii, c. 4. a Migne, P. L. 88, 598. 




8 A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 

torical treatment. In the brief space at our disposal we 
propose to trace at any rate the chief stages in the de- 
velopment of Catholic moral theology. Our history may 
conveniently be divided into three periods; the first will 
embrace the age of the Fathers, the second that of the 
scholastics, the third will be the modern period. 

Section I 
The Patristic Period 

The end for which Jesus Christ established His Church 
was the sanctification and salvation of souls. This end 
the Church was to obtain chiefly by preaching the Gospel 
which her Founder had revealed and by administering the 
sacraments which He had instituted. 1 Men were to be 
sanctified and prepared for eternity by holy living through 
the grace of God communicated to them principally by 
means of the sacraments. The Gospels contain a short 
summary of the general teaching of Jesus Christ; this is 
developed somewhat in certain directions in the other 
writings of the New Testament, but the preachers of the 
Word soon found it convenient to have by them brief 
summaries of the moral teaching of Our Lord by itself. 
This need was met by such works as the " Didache, " or 
"Teaching of the Twelve Apostles," composed about the 
end of the first century, and the " Pastor " of Hermas, written 
a little later. It would be utterly impossible to give even 
an outline of the ethical works of all the Fathers of the 
Church. Together they form a very voluminous and com- 
plete course of moral theology, and more than one such 

1 Matt, xxviii. 19, 20. 






A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 9 

course has been put together by simply printing a con- 
secutive selection of their works. Thus in 1791 an Italian 
priest, Angelo Cigheri, published at Florence his " Veterum 
Patrum Theologia Universa," in thirteen volumes quarto,, 
of which the three last are devoted to morals. A fairly 
complete catalogue of ethical works by the Fathers will 
be found in the indices of Migne's "Patrology," arranged 
under the separate headings which figure in our modern 
manuals of moral theology. All that we can do here is to 
select a few typical works which exhibit the gradual develop- 
ment of the science of Christian Ethics. The "Didache" 
may be looked upon as the first handbook of morals which 
has come down to us, and it will be worth while to give 
a short analysis of its contents. 

This first handbook of moral theology begins with the 
first general principle of ethics. All righteousness is 
summed up in the general precept to avoid evil and do 
good. The doing of good consists of the observance of 
the two great commandments of love for our God and 
for our neighbor. The golden rule is added to the state- 
ment of the general first principles of morality. " There 
are two ways," we read, "one of life and one of death; 
and there is much difference between the two ways. Now 
the way of life is this : First thou shalt love God that made 
thee; secondly, thy neighbor as thyself; and all things 
whatsoever thou wouldest should not happen to thee,, 
neither do thou to another." The rest of the first chapter 
is occupied with a development of the precept of love for 
our neighbor, expressed for the most part in the language 
of the Sermon on the Mount. The second chapter enu- 
merates some of the principal negative duties toward 
our neighbor. A similar enumeration occupies the third 



10 A SHOUT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 

chapter, but here there is an attempt to give the reason 
for the different prohibitions, as, for example: "Be not 
prone to anger, for anger leads to murder ; neither a zealot, 
nor contentious, nor passionate; for from all these things 
murders are begotten." In the fourth chapter are set 
down the duties toward preachers of the Gospel, of making 
peace, of judging righteously, of almsgiving ; duties toward 
parents, children, servants ; of avoiding hypocrisy, and not 
adding to or taking away from the precepts of the Lord 
which they had been taught. The chapter concludes with, 
"This is the way of life." 

The fifth chapter consists of a long enumeration of sins, 
and ends with the prayer, "May ye be delivered, children, 
from all these." 

In the sixth chapter there is a warning against being 
led away from this teaching by any one, for such a one 
would not teach according to God. A distinction is drawn 
between what is required for perfection and what is morally 
possible. The faithful are bidden specially to beware of 
what has been sacrificed to idols. 

A brief instruction on Baptism occupies the seventh 
chapter, and in the eighth Christians are taught to fast 
on Wednesdays and Fridays, so that their fasting-days 
may be different from those of the Jews, w r ho fasted on 
Mondays and Thursdays. They are told to say the "Our 
Father" three times a day. The ninth and tenth chapters 
give instructions on the celebration of the Eucharist, while 
the two following deal with the way in which prophets 
and strangers should be received. The thirteenth chapter 
prescribes the offering of first-fruits. In the next chapter 
the faithful are instructed to meet together on every Lord's 
Day, to offer the Eucharistic Sacrifice, after confessing 



A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 11 

their sins, so that their sacrifice may be pure. Enemies, 
too, should be reconciled lest the sacrifice be defiled. It 
was of this sacrifice that Malachias prophesied. The 
fifteenth chapter deals with the election of bishops and 
deacons and the respect which is due to them. The duties 
of fraternal correction, of prayer and almsdeeds, are en- 
joined as they are contained in the Gospel of Our Lord. 
The last chapter contains an exhortation to watch, and 
inculcates the necessity of faith and perseverance, for 
Antichrist will appear and seduce many. The treatise con- 
cludes with a short description of the signs of the last day. 

The whole of the second Book of the "Pastor" of Hermas 
is a document of early Christian moral teaching very similar 
to the " Didache, " but more attempt may be observed in 
it to show the connection between one prohibition and 
another, and to give reasons and motives for their observ- 
ance. 

A great advance is observable in the catechetical works 
of Clement of Alexandria. They are almost exclusively 
devoted to moral teaching, which their learned author 
illustrates and confirms by constant quotations from the 
Greek classical authors. With an enthusiastic and per- 
sonal love for Jesus Christ, and faith in His teaching as 
a divine and full revelation of the truth to men, he com- 
bines a high esteem for reason and philosophy. According 
to Clement, philosophy was the pedagogue of the pagan 
world, preparing it for Christ and leading it to Him, as the 
law did the Jews. Philosophy is the handmaid of theology, 
he says, and the dictates of reason are but the promptings 
of the Word which illuminates every man that cometh 
into the world. This, of course, is but a development of 
ideas which we find in the Scriptures of the Old and New 



12 A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 

Testament, and it is a natural consequence of Christian 
teaching concerning God and His relation to man and to 
the world. It is a very superficial view which regards the 
action of Clement and other Fathers in the use they made 
of reason and philosophy as a corrupting influence in Chris- 
tian teaching. With them, as with the scholastics in the 
Middle Ages, that action was the necessary result of a firm 
faith in the Gospel message, and the natural desire to under- 
stand it and penetrate its full meaning as far as possible. 
It was Fides quoerens intellectum, the moving spirit of 
Catholic theology from the beginning. Better than any 
lengthy exposition, an extract or two from Clement will 
show how far the science of moral theology had progressed 
at the end of the second century. The following extract 
is taken from an apologetic work entitled'* An Exhortation 
to the Heathen." 

" Wherefore, since the Word Himself has come to us from 
heaven, we need not, I reckon, go any more in search of 
human learning to Athens and the rest of Greece, and to 
Ionia. For if we have as our teacher Him that filled the 
universe with His holy energies in creation, salvation, 
beneficence, legislation, prophecy, teaching, we have the 
Teacher from whom all instruction comes; and the whole 
world, with Athens and Greece, has already become the 
domain of the Word. For you, who believed the poetical 
fable which designated Minos the Cretan as the bosom 
friend of Zeus, will not refuse to believe that we who have 
become the disciples of God have received the only true 
wisdom; and that which the chiefs of philosophy only 
guessed at, the disciples of Christ have both apprehended 
and proclaimed." ■ 

1 Exhortation to the Heathen, c. 11. 



A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 13 

The next extract from the "Psedagogus," a work contain- 
ing instructions for recent converts, shows the place which 
reason or conscience holds in Christian ethics. 

" Everything that is contrary to right reason is sin. 
Accordingly, therefore, the philosophers think fit to define 
the most generic passions thus: lust, as desire disobedient 
to reason; fear, as weakness disobedient to reason; pleas- 
ure, as an elation of the spirit disobedient to reason. If, 
then, disobedience in reference to reason is the generating 
cause of sin, how shall we escape the conclusion that 
obedience to reason, — the Word, — which we call Faith, 
will of necessity be the efficacious cause of duty? For 
virtue itself is a state of the soul rendered harmonious 
by reason in respect to the whole life. Nay, to crown all, 
philosophy itself is pronounced to be the cultivation of right 
reason; so that, necessarily, whatever is done through 
«rror of reason is transgression, and is rightly called sin." 1 

The "Stromata," or " Miscellanies, " are a collection of 
materials for the ethical instruction and training of the 
Christian theologian. The philosophical and theological 
detail to which Clement descends in the treatment of his 
subject may be illustrated by an extract from the fourteenth 
chapter of the second Book of the "Stromata," on the 
different ways in which an act may be involuntary. The 
matter of course belongs to the treatise on Human Acts, 
sometimes said to be the last treatise which was added to 
our manuals of morals. 

"What is involuntary is not matter for judgment. But 

this is twofold — what is done in ignorance, and what is 

done through necessity. For how will you judge concerning 

those who are said to sin in involuntary modes ? For either 

1 Paedagogus, i, c. 13. 



11 A snoiiT EZ8T0MT OF UOBAL THE0L0G7 

one knew not himself, as ( Heomenes and Athamas, who w. re 
mad ; <>r the thing which he does, u Jfischylus, who dh ulged 
the rnysh tries on the stage, who being tried KntheAreopagui 
was absolved on his showing that he had never been initiated 

Or one knows not wh;it is done, as he who has let off his 
antagonist, and slain his domestic instead of his enemy; 
or that by which it is done, as he who in exercising with 
spears having buttons on them, has killed some one in con- 

sequenee of the spear throwing off the button; or knows 

not the m:mner how, as he who has killed his antagonist in 
the stadium, for it was not for his death hut for victory that 
he contended; or knows not the reason why it is done, 
as the physician who gave a salutary antidote and killed, 
for it was not for this purpose that he gave it, hut to 

save." ' 

As yet no attempt had been made in the church to write 

a systematic treatise of morals by reducing the various 
virtues and vices to logical order under appropriate general 
principles, This stop was taken hy St. Ambrose at the 
end of the fourth century. This great Father and Doctor 
of the Church composed his work "IV Olliciis" for the 
instruction of the clergy of his church of Milan. Be ex- 
pressly tells us that he followed Cicero's work with the same 
title as his pattern. Cicero wrote his book for the instruc- 
tion of his son ; St. Ambrose desired to write for the instruc- 
tion of his spiritual children. Although he followed Cicero 
closely in the arrangement and treatment of the matter, 
yet he never loses Bight of what appears to have been the 
chief motive that he had in view in the composition of his 

work; namely, to demonstrate the superiority of Christian 
over pagan ethics. 

1 SI rotiKit.i. ii, D. 11. 



A SHOBT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 15 

The work is divided, like Cicero's, into three Books. In 
the first he treats of what is honorable and dishonorable. 
He points out that the philosophic distinction between 
ordinary and perfect virtue has its counterpart in the 
Gospel, which distinguishes between what is matter of 
strict precept and of counsel. Certain elementary duties, 
as those toward parents and elders, are touched on, and 
then follows a discussion on the four cardinal virtues. 
The second Book treats of what is expedient with reference 
to eternal life. The third Book treats of what is honorable 
and expedient in conjunction, and the author has no diffi- 
culty in reconciling these conflicting principles according 
to Christian teaching. "For," he writes, "I said that 
nothing can be virtuous but what is useful, and nothing can 
be useful but what is virtuous. For we do not follow the 
wisdom of the flesh, whereby the usefulness that consists in 
an abundance of money is held to be of most value, but we 
follow the wisdom which is of God, whereby those things 
which are greatly valued in this world are counted but as 
loss. For this KaropOw^ia, which is duty carried out en- 
tirely and in perfection, starts from the true source of virtue. 
On this follows another, or ordinary duty. This shows by 
its name that no hard or extraordinary practice of virtue 
is involved, for it can be common to very many." ! This 
principle of perfection is then applied to the pursuit of gain 
and other questions. 

A very famous book of morals, somewhat more restricted 
in scope than the "De Officiis" of St. Ambrose, is the 
"Pastoral Care" of St. Gregory the Great. This, together 
with the same author's " Morals" on Job, was a favorite 

1 Dc Offloiia, lii. c. 2. 



16 A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 

textbook in the Middle Ages. It lays down the qualities 
required in those who have the cure of souls, how they 
themselves should live, how they should instruct and ad- 
monish those subject to their authority. The book was 
brought to England by St. Augustine and translated into 
English by King Alfred for the benefit of the bishops and 
priests of his kingdom. 

A word must here be said on Christian asceticism, which 
has been so utterly misunderstood and misrepresented by 
such writers as Lecky and Harnack, and whose true re- 
lation to Christian morals is so seldom perceived by non- 
Catholic authors. 

Christ our Lord expressly taught that renunciation of 
self, of the world with its riches and pleasures, was in a 
certain sense a necessary condition of discipleship. This 
renunciation, however, admitted of different degrees, as is 
also plain from the Gospels. Some were called only to 
spiritual poverty and detachment, and these hoped to 
save their souls by remaining in the world without being 
of it. Outwardly they lived much like other people, but 
their affections were detached from this world and centered 
on God and eternity. They went to heaven by the way of 
the commandments. Others, on the contrary, voluntarily 
embraced the counsels of poverty, chastity, and obedience, 
given by Our Lord to those who were called, and who 
felt that they had the spiritual strength to follow the call. 
They made a special profession of following the counsels, 
and were assigned a place of honor in the Christian assem- 
blies, but at first they seem to have lived in the bosom of 
their families. They soon, however, began to find it very 
difficult to persevere in their adopted form of life while 
exposed to the distractions and temptations of the world, 



A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 17 

and this, together with the violence of the persecutions, 
drove them into the desert. There they lived at first 
solitary lives as hermits, but before long they began to 
come together and put themselves under the authority of 
some ancient Father of the desert renowned for his prudence 
and sanctity. Their aim was to subdue their passions and 
ascend the heights of Christian perfection. The task is 
notoriously difficult both in theory and in practice, and 
many mistakes were made. The Church had not yet 
drawn up her minute code of laws for the regulation of 
religious life. Those writers, however, who industriously 
pick out the mistakes and the exaggerations of indiscreet 
fervor, and piece them together to produce a picture of 
Christian monachism and asceticism, only succeed in pro- 
ducing a caricature. To convince oneself of this it is suffi- 
cient to dip into the " Institutes of Monasteries" and the 
" Conferences" of Cassian, who was in the middle of a long 
life in the year 400. In the twelve Books of his "In- 
stitutes" Cassian describes the dress of the monks, their 
method of singing the divine office, the training of postu- 
lants and novices, and then he devotes the last eight Books 
to a minute account of the nature, causes, and remedies 
of the eight principal vices which bar the way to the summit 
of Christian perfection. He maps out every portion of the 
pilgrim's progress to his heavenly country, and shows what 
dangers and obstacles he will meet by the way. In brief, 
he says, progress toward perfection begins with the fear of 
God, from which arises a salutary sorrow for sin, which 
leads to renunciation and contempt of the world; this 
begets humility, from which springs mortification of the will, 
and by this all vices are subdued and extirpated. Then 
all virtues begin to flourish in the soul, which thus 



18 A SHORT IIISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 

arrives at purity of heart and the perfection of apostolic 
charity. 1 

The vices to be overcome are classed under eight differ- 
ent heads by Cassian, and he says that the classification 
was admitted by all. 2 These principal or capital vices 
are typified by the seven peoples whom the Israelites were 
commanded by God to extirpate when they came into the 
land of promise. Egypt makes the eighth from which 
they had been delivered, and which, Cassian says, typifies 
gluttony. From this vice the monk is indeed delivered by 
his abandoning the world for the desert, but he may not 
extirpate it altogether; he should aim only at curbing its 
excesses. Gregory the Great adopted in substance the 
teaching of Cassian on the capital vices, but by making 
pride the queen of all the rest, and placing it in a category 
by itself, the other seven became the seven deadly sins which 
with their daughter vices were so famous in the literature 
of the Middle Ages, and figure in the books of morals and 
in the catechisms of Christian doctrine to the present day. 

To show how conservative the Catholic tradition has 
been even in the expression of doctrine I will give the 
following passage in St. Gregory's own words: 

"Ipsa namque vitiorum regina superbia cum devictum 
plene cor ceperit, mox illud septem principalibus vitiis, 
quasi quibusdam suis ducibus devastandum tradit. Quos 
videlicet duces exercitus sequitur, quia ex eis proculdubio 
importunae vitiorum multitudines oriuntur. Quod melius 
ostendimus, si ipsos duces atque exercitum specialiter, ut 
possumus, enumerando proferamus. Radix quippe cuncti 
mali superbia est, de qua, Scriptura attestante, dicitur: 

1 De Ccenobiorum Institutis, lib. iv, c. 43. J Collatio v, c. 18. 



A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 19 

Initium omnis peccati est superbia (Ecclus. x. 15). Primae 
autem ejus soboles, septem nimirum principalia vitia, de 
hac virulenta radice proferuntur, scilicet inanis gloria, 
invidia, ira, tristitia, avaritia, ventris ingluvies, luxuria. 
Nam quia his septem superbiae vitiis nos captos doluit, 
idcirco Redemptor noster ad spirituale liberationis prcelium 
spiritu septiformis gratiae plenus venit. 

"Sed habent contra nos haec singula exercitum suum. 
Nam de inani gloria inobedientia, jactantia, hypocrisis, 
contentiones, pertinaciae, discordiae, et novitatum praesump- 
tiones oriuntur. De invidia, odium, susurratio, detractio, 
exsultatio in adversis proximi, afflictio autem in prosperis 
nascitur. De ira, rixaB, tumor mentis, contumelise, clamor, 
indignatio, blasphemia3 proferuntur. De tristitia, malitia, 
rancor, pusillanimitas, desperatio, torpor circa prsecepta, 
vagatio mentis erga illicita nascitur. De avaritia, proditio, 
fraus, fallacia, perjuria, inquietudo, violentia3, et contra 
misericordiam obdurationes cordis oriuntur. De ventris 
ingluvie, inepta laBtitia, scurrilitas, immunditia, multi- 
loquium, hebetudo sensus circa intelligentiam propagantur. 
De luxuria, csecitas mentis, inconsideratio, inconstantia, 
prsecipitatio, amor sui, odium Dei, affectus praesentis sec- 
uli, horror autem vel desperatio futuri generantur. Quia 
ergo septem principalia vitia tantam de se vitiorum mul- 
titudinem proferunt, cum ad cor veniunt, quasi subse- 
quentis exercitus catervas trahunt. Ex quibus videlicet 
septem quinque spiritalia, duoque carnalia sunt." l 

The " Conferences " of Cassian are represented by him as 
the teachings of celebrated abbots on various questions of 
the spiritual life. They are partly speculative, partly 
practical. There are twenty-four in all, each being divided 

1 Moralium, lib. xxxi, c. 45. 



M A STOAT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 

into a greater or less number of chapters. These two works 
have provided an ample store of moral and ascetical doctrine 
for all subsequent Catholic writers on the subjects treated in 
them. 

A large portion of moral theology is taken up with the 
duties arising from the positive legislation of the Church. 
In this legislation we have the practical application of 
Christian moral principles to the varying requirements 
of time and place, and change and variety are here con- 
spicuous. With the establishment of the Christian religion 
the positive precepts of the Mosaic law ceased to be bind- 
ing, but the Church received from her divine Founder 
authority to make new laws for the sanctification and 
salvation of her children. The apostles used this legisla- 
tive authority, as we see from the Epistles of St. Paul, 
especially from those to Timothy and Titus, and within 
twenty years after the Ascension we find them legislating 
in the Council of Jerusalem on the disputed question of 
legal observances. The decree which we have in the Acts l 
was a true positive law imposing a new obligation on the 
faithful concerned, as long as the peculiar circumstances 
of the time rendered its observance desirable and necessary. 2 
This council of the apostles formed the type and pattern 
for the ecumenical and provincial councils of the Church 
which were to be held in the future. Innumerable laws and 
regulations have been enacted by these, affecting Catholic 
life, discipline, and worship. The Bishops, too. as successors 
of the apostles have continued in all ages to exercise the 
legislative authority committed to them by God and the 
Church. The Roman Pontiffs, especially, in the exercise 

1 Acta xv. 28, - 

8 It cea.-ed to bind in the Latin Church about the ninth century. 



A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 21 

of their jurisdiction over the whole Church in succession to 
Blessed Peter, have in all ages made wise laws for the peace 
and prosperity of the Christian people. As instances of 
this action of the Popes in the early centuries may be 
mentioned St. Clement's first epistle to the Corinthians 
in the first century, St. Victor's decision about the observ- 
ance of Easter in the second century, St. Stephen's about 
the baptism of heretics in the third, and similar action on 
the part of Popes Liberius, Damasus, and Siricius. Sub- 
sequently papal decisions became frequent and notorious. 
Collections of the decisions issuing from all these sources 
of positive law began to be made in very early times. Of 
these some have survived the ravages of time. The 
"Didascalia of the Apostles" may in the judgment of the 
learned be ascribed to the first half of the third century, 
and the so-called " Constitutions of the Apostles" together 
with the "Canons of the Apostles" to the early part of the 
fifth century. The materials of which these collections are 
composed are, of course, still more ancient. At the begin- 
ning of the fourth century the decrees of the councils were 
collected and arranged at first in chronological order in the 
East. At the beginning of the sixth century systematic 
collections arranged under suitable titles began to appear. 
Of these early collections of canons the most celebrated is 
that of John the Scholastic. In the West, Dionysius 
Exiguus made his translation of Greek canons into Latin 
about the year 500. A copy of this collection was pre- 
sented by the Pope to Charlemagne when he was in Rome, 
and he caused it to be received and approved by the clergy 
of his empire in 802 at the great Council of Aix la Chapclle. 
Collections of Church laws continued to grow in number 
and in bulk until in the twelfth century the monk Gratian 



88 A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 

issued his " Dec return" which became the most famous 
of them all, and still forms the first volume of the "Corpus 
Juris Canonici." It contains some 4000 decisions on law 
and morals taken from the decrees of Popes, the canons of 
councils both general and particular, the opinions of the 
Fathers, and even from the civil law. 

No attempt of course can be made in this short sketch 
to trace the varying phases through which the innumerable 
positive laws of the Church have passed. It will be suffi- 
cient for our purpose to trace in outline those chief precepts 
which bind all Catholics and which are specially known as 
the precepts of the Church. They are usually reckoned six 
in number : the due observance of Sundays and feast-days, 
the days of fasting and abstinence, confession and commun- 
ion, the support of pastors, and the prohibition of marriage 
within certain degrees of kindred and of its solemnization 
at certain times of the year. 

The observance of the Sunday and its substitution for 
the Sabbath appears to be due to apostolic institution. 
There are traces of it in the New Testament; in the "Di- 
dache" the faithful are bidden to come together on the 
Lord's Day, as it was called even then in honor of the Res- 
urrection, and offer the eucharistic sacrifice after confessing 
their sins. In the second century the custom of observing 
the Lord's Day was universal throughout the Church. 
The chief duty to be performed on that day was to hear 
Mass. Very soon particular provincial laws began to be 
enacted urging the obligation and imposing penalties on 
transgressors. At the beginning of the fourth century 
the Council of Elliberis in Spain decreed that any one who 
might be absent from Mass on three successive Sundays 
should be deprived of communion. The Council of Agde 



A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 23 

at the beginning of the sixth century prescribed that all 
were to hear an entire Mass on Sunday and not leave until 
after the blessing of the priest on pain of a public repre- 
hension by the Bishop. 

It was natural that when Sunday became the Christian 
Sabbath it should be kept much in the same way as the 
Jews kept their Sabbath. While knowing from the teach- 
ing of Our Lord Himself that pharisaic exaggeration was 
to be avoided in this matter, and from St. Paul that the 
sabbatical rest was no longer of obligation, still St. Caesarius 
of Aries in the sixth century expressly says that the Doctors 
of the Church decreed to transfer all the honor of the Sab- 
bath to the Lord's Day. The very necessity of hearing 
Mass on that day made a certain abstention from work 
also necessary. Tertullian testifies to the Christian custom 
of his day in this respect. Constant ine prescribed that 
judges and artisans in towns should abstain from work 
on the Sunday, but that agriculture should be allowed 
on account of necessity. The strictness with which 
the Sunday repose was observed varied somewhat 
according to time and place in the period with which 
we are dealing. 

Besides the Sunday other feast-days began gradually 
to be observed in the same manner by hearing Mass and 
abstaining from servile work. Easter and Pentecost were 
assigned to movable Sundays, but the days on which re- 
nowned martyrs suffered for the Faith, those on which 
churches were dedicated, Ascension Day, Christmas Day, 
and the Epiphany, were soon added to the list. The letter 
of the Church of Smyrna concerning the martyrdom of St. 
Poly carp in the middle of the second century expresses the 
intention of celebrating the anniversary of the day of mar- 



24 A SHOUT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 

tyrdom with joy, both in memory of those who had suffered 
and as a preparation for those who survived. 1 

Afl the Christian Church took over the Jewish Sabbath 
but changed the day on which it was observed and rejected 
the exaggerations of the Pharisees in its observance, so, too, 
it adopted the Jewish practice of fasting at stated times. 

have seen from the "Didache" the fast of M< . 
and Thursday was changed into one on Wednesday and 
Friday. The obligation of fasting on all Wednesdays and 
Fridays ceased almost entirely about the tenth eenl 
but the fixing of those days by ecclesiastical authority 
for fasting, and the desire to substitute a Christian observ- 
ance at Rome for certain pagan rites celebrated in con- 
nection with the seasons of the year, seem to have given rise 
to our Ember Days. In the time of St. Leo, in the middle 
of the fifth century, the Ember Days were a settled institu- 
tion, though the time at which they fell varied somewhat 
at different times and in different places. 

The earliest indication that we have of the fast of Lent is 
contained in a short extract from Irenseus which has been pre- 
served for us by Eusebius. 2 Writing to Pope Victor about the 
middle of the second century. St. Irenseus says that the con- 
troversy in the East was not merely about the proper time 
of celebrating Easter but also about the manner of fasting. 
'"For some think/' he says, "that they ought to fast only 
one day, some two, some more days ; some compute their 
day as consisting of forty hours night and day; and this 
diversity existing among those that observe it is not a 
matter that has just sprung up in our times, but long ago 
among those before us, who perhaps not having ruled with 

1 Cf . A. Yillien, Histoire des Commandements de l'figlise. 1909. 
a Historia ecclesiastics, v, c. 24. 



A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 2& 

sufficient strictness, established the practice that arose from 
their simplicity and inexperience, and yet with all these 
maintained peace, and we have maintained peace with one 
another ; and the very difference in our fasting establishes 
the unanimity of our faith." At the time this was written 
the Lenten fast was obviously very short, and there was no 
uniformity even in its duration. Tertullian, fifty years 
later, refers to the Lenten observance as the fulfillment of 
the words of Our Lord : "But the days will come when the 
bridegroom shall be taken away from them — then shall they 
fast in those days." 

The first allusion to a period of forty days' fast occurs in 
the fifth canon of the Council of Nicasa (325) . In the time 
of St. Leo in the fifth century the period was sufficiently 
well established to be referred by him to apostolic institu- 
tion. The period was six weeks, but omitting Sundays 
the actual fasting days were only thirty-six in number. 
The four days before the first Sunday of Lent were added 
sometime in the seventh century. The fasts assigned to 
certain vigils arose from the practice of the early Christians 
of assembling on the eve of a feast and spending the night 
in prayer, fasting, and reading the Scriptures. By de- 
grees matins took the place of the night office, and the 
vigil office was moved back to the Saturday morning, as 
we see to this day from the morning office of Holy Saturday. 
The fast was thus prolonged through the Saturday till af- 
ter the morning office of the feast of next day. 

The fast which used to be observed on the rogation days 
took its rise in France at the close of the fifth century and 
by degrees spread to other Churches. The interrupted 
fast of Advent was introduced as a preparation for Christmas 
toward the end of the fourth century. The manner of 



A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 



fasting has varied greatly at different times and in different 
places. At first the fast seems to have been absolute and 
continuous. During the days of the bridegroom's absence 
the faithful neither ate nor drank anything. When the 
period was lengthened such a total fast became impossible, 
but at least in the East food was restricted on fast days 
to one meal of bread, salt, and water, taken in the evening, 
or at least not before three in the afternoon. In the time 
of St. Gregory fish was allowed at the single meal in the 
West. Flesh meat was never allowed on fasting days. 

The essence of fasting is still placed by theologians in 
the single meal, but many relaxations have crept in by 
degrees. The monks while listening to a Collatio of Cassian 
before going to bed introduced the practice of drinking an 
acidulated liquor called posca . By degrees fruits and lighter 
kinds of food in limited quantity were added, and when 
about the thirteenth century the full meal began to be 
taken at twelve midday, the evening collation became an 
established practice. 

In the thirteenth century it was an accepted principle 
that liquid does not break the fast, and this became the 
source of another relaxation. A little wine, or coffee, or 
chocolate, was taken sometimes in the morning, with can- 
died fruits (electuaria) on occasion. The practice was not 
condemned when the Sacred Penitentiary was asked about 
it in 1843, provided that the solid food taken then did not 
exceed two ounces in weight. 

At first all seem to have fasted except children and those 
who were sick. St. Thomas' opinion that those who are 
still growing are not bound to fast, and that in general the 
period of growth lasts till the completion of the twenty-first 
year, has prevailed. Exemptions in favor of workmen and 



A 8H0BT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 27 

others were soon admitted, and toward the close of the 
Middle Ages dispensations from the law of fasting began 
to be granted. The Lenten indult is now an established 
custom. 

The precept of abstinence from flesh meat which is still 
observed on Fridays is a survival of the obligation of fasting 
on that day which obtained in the primitive Church. As 
we have seen, the "Didache" prescribed fasting on all 
Wednesdays and Fridays, and to this fast all the faithful 
except mere children and the sick were formerly bound. 
About the tenth century the obligation of the Friday fast 
was reduced to one of abstinence from flesh meat, and the 
Wednesday fast after being similarly mitigated gradually 
disappeared altogether. 

While in the East Saturday was observed as a festival in 
honor of the creation, 1 at Rome and in other Churches 
of the West it began in early times to be observed as a fasting 
day. On account of the difference of discipline on this 
point great difficulties arose in the fourth century, as we 
know from the correspondence of St. Augustine and St. 
Jerome. St. Ambrose said that he kept festival on Satur- 
day when he was at Milan and a fast when at Rome, and 
he advised St. Augustine to follow the same rule. About 
the eleventh century the Saturday fast was reduced to 
an obligation of abstinence, and this is the common law 
of the Church to-day, but many countries are dispensed 
from its observance. A dispensation from abstinence on 
Saturdays, the feast of St. Mark, and on Rogation Days 
was granted for England by a rescript of Propaganda, 
May 29, 1830. 

The Sundays in Lent were never observed as fasting 

1 Apostolic Constitutions, vii. 23. 






28 A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 

days, but they early became days of abstinence as they are 
to this day, though usually a dispensation is granted to eat 
meat on them. 

Annual confession and communion was first made a 
positive universal law of the Catholic Church in the Fourth 
Lateran Council (1215). As we know from the Gospel of 
St. John ■ both confession and communion were prescribed 
by Our Lord, but He determined neither precept in detail. 
The practice of the different Churches in the early age- 
various in respect to both precepts. We will first trace in 
outline the history regarding the precept of annual com- 
munion. 

From the earliest times, as we have seen, Mass was cele- 
brated for the assembled faithful on Sundays, and all who 
were present appear to have received holy communion. 
In some places it was the practice for the faithful to take 
home with them consecrated particles and communicate 
themselves therewith out of Mass. Many at Rome, in 
Spain, and in Africa received communion daily. This was 
a common practice at the end of the fourth century, as we 
learn from the letters of St. Jerome and St. Augustine. 
The latter interprets the daily bread for which we ask in the 
Lord's Prayer as holy communion. The Council of Agde 
(506) decreed that those who did not communicate at least 
on the feasts of the Xativity, Easter, and Whit-Sunday 
were not to be reckoned as Catholics. In subsequent 
centuries this became a general rule in the Western Church ; 
in the East, according to Theodore of Canterbury, the law 
was much stricter. The Greeks, he says, both laity and 
clerics, communicate every Sunday, and any one who 
omits to do so on three Sundays is excommunicated. 

1 John vi. xx. 



A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 29 

A synod held 747 at Cloveshoe in England prescribed that 
innocent youths and those in whom years had cooled the 
ardor of passion should be exhorted to communicate very 
frequently. A synod held under St. Patrick in the fifth 
century decreed that the Eucharist was to be received at 
all events at Easter, and that any one who neglected this 
duty was not a member of the Church. Robert Pullen, 
an Englishman who wrote in the middle of the twelfth 
century, tells us that in his day some communicated more 
frequently, others less so, but that even laymen followed the 
rule of the Fathers and communicated at least three times 
a year. So that when the Lateran Council established the 
universal law that all who had come to years of discretion 
were bound to communicate at least at Easter, it made 
no new rule ; it merely enforced by universal statute the 
least that was expected of any one who called himself a 
Catholic. 

The precept of annual confession is intrinsically connected 
with that of Easter communion both in the Church's legis- 
lation and in its own nature. For, as the Catechism of the 
Council of Trent teaches, 1 the power of order, although 
primarily it refers to the consecration of the Eucharist, 
yet also comprises all that is necessary to dispose the faith- 
ful to receive the Eucharist worthily and profitably. It 
comprises, then, the power to forgive sins, inasmuch as 
no one who is conscious of mortal sin may receive holy 
communion without previous confession and absolution. 
The Council of Trent 2 teaches that the words of St. Paul, 
"Let a man prove himself," have always been understood 
in the Church of the necessity of sacramental confession 
and absolution before holy communion when there is con- 
1 Pt. ii, c. 7, q. 6. 3 Supra, p. 106. 



30 A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 

sciousness of mortal sin. The law of the Lateran concerning 
annual confession and communion is thus one law, con- 
fession being ordinarily a necessary preparation for holy 
communion in those who rarely communicate. That the 
Church always understood this is witnessed to by Alcuin 
in the eighth century, 1 by St. Leo in the fifth, 2 St. Augustine 
in the fourth, 3 and St. Cyprian in the third. 4 We have 
the same conjunction of confession and communion in the 
sentence of the "Didach6" : "But on the Lord's day do ye 
assemble and break bread, and give thanks, after confessing 
your transgressions, in order that your sacrifice may be 
pure." 6 In all probability the confession here spoken of 
should be interpreted as meaning sacramental confession 
to a priest. The Council of Trent, then, was justified in 
saying that before receiving holy communion it had always 
been considered a duty to go to confession when there was 
consciousness of mortal sin. In the fifth or sixth century 
a practice sprang up which was the forerunner of the Lateran 
law of annual confession. At the beginning of Lent public 
penance was imposed on those who had been guilty of great 
and notorious crimes. In some of the Penitential Books a 
the priest is bidden to invite all who are conscious of mortal 
sin, and even all w T ho by any sin whatever have soiled their 
baptismal robe, to make humble confession to their own 
priest on Ash Wednesday, and accept the penance en- 
joined according to the canons. If there was any special 
reason for granting absolution at once, that was done, 

1 De Psalmonim Usu, P. L. C. i. 499. 

a Epist. 108, P. L. liv. 1011. 

8 Serm. 278, P. L. xxxviii. 2273. 

4 Epist. 10, P. L.iv. 254; Epist. 11, ib. 257; De Lapsis, xvi. ib. 479. 

• C. xiv. • Schmitz, Bussbiicher, i, 775. 



A SHOBT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 31 

otherwise absolution was deferred till Maundy Thursday 
when, the penance having been performed, the penitent was 
absolved and admitted to communion. This was a mitiga- 
tion of the earlier discipline of some Churches, especially 
in the East, according to which public penance sometimes 
lasted for years. 1 The name of Shrove Tuesday, and the 
custom of receiving ashes on the head on Ash Wednesday, 
still remind us of the old discipline of the Catholic Church. 
It was natural, then, that when the Church made it obliga- 
tory on all to receive holy communion at least every Easter, 
it should also impose the obligation of annual confession. 
The law indeed does not indicate Easter as necessarily the 
time for the annual confession, but in practice it follows the 
time for the annual communion. Originally the annual 
confession had by law to be made to the parish priest or to 
the Bishop of the penitent, but for centuries it has been 
lawful to make it to any priest who has approbation for 
hearing confessions in the place. 

The faithful are bound by natural and divine law ac- 
cording to the teaching of St. Paul 2 to contribute to the 
support of their pastors. For some centuries the revenues 
of the Church derived from the offerings of the faithful and 
from other sources constituted one fund, and this was ad- 
ministered by the Bishop. The support of the poor, the 
maintenance of public worship, as well as the support of 
the clergy and other needs were all supplied from the com- 
mon fund. According to a decretal of Pope Gelasius 
(501) the Church revenues were to be divided into four 
portions, one for the Bishop, another for the clergy, a third 
for the relief of the poor and strangers, the fourth for the 

1 Duchesne, Christian Worship, p. 435. 
8 1 Cor. ix, Gal. vi. 6. 



32 A SUORT HI8T0BT OF MORAL THEOLOGY 

Church fabrics. In his celebrated answers to St. Augustine, 
Gregory the Great tells the first archbishop of Canterbury 
that as he was a monk he did not need a separate portion, 
and should be content to share in common with his clergy. 
For several centuries no positive law of the Churc was 
needed to compel the faithful to do their duty in this matter. 
The Fathers who occasionally urge the obligation are con- 
tent to appeal in support of it to the teaching of St. Paul 
or to the law of tithes under the Mosaic dispensation. The 
Penitential attributed to St. Theodore enjoins that the 
custom of the province should be observed relative to con- 
tributions to the Church, but that the poor were not to be 
subjected to violence for the sake of tithes or other matters. 
Positive ecclesiastical laws, however, began to appear both 
on the continent and in England in the eighth century. 
Thus the seventeenth article of the legatine council held 
in England by the authority of Pope Adrian I (785- 
787) contained the following provision: "Wherefore also 
we solemnly lay upon you this precept, that all be careful to 
give tithes of all that they possess, because that is the 
special part of the Lord God; and let a man live on the 
nine parts, and give alms." At first there was some variety 
in the appropriation of tithes, but when the parochial 
system was introduced, between the tenth and thirteenth 
century, the appropriation of tithes to the parish priest 
became the settled rule. In modern times, at least in 
English-speaking countries, the offerings of the faithful 
constitute almost the only source of Church revenues as 
they did in the early ages of Christianity, and their appor- 
tionment and distribution are regulated by special laws. 1 

1 Constitution of Leo XIII, Romanos Pontifices. 



A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 33 

As marriage was raised to the dignity of a sacrament 
by Christ our Lord, and the Church alone has jurisdiction 
over the administration of the sacraments, it follows that 
Christian marriage is subject exclusively to the laws of 
God and of the Church. There are several passages in 
the Epistles of St. Paul 1 which show that the Church was 
conscious of her authority in this matter, and that she 
used it from the earliest times. St. Ignatius in his letter 
to St. Poly carp says that it is proper that Christians should 
contract marriage according to the judgment of the Bishop, 
and Tertullian asserts that marriages which were con- 
tracted without being previously notified to the Church 
were in danger of being considered as no better than 
adulteries and fornications. The history of the many 
laws relating to Christian marriage is too large a sub- 
ject to be treated here even in outline. We will confine 
ourselves to the impediments of consanguinity and close 
time. 

The natural and divine law prohibits marriage in the first 
degree of the direct line, and most probably in all degrees 
indefinitely in the same line. In the collateral line, also, it 
most probably forbids marriage at least in the first degree. 
With respect to further degrees in the collateral line the 
Church adopted the Mosaic legislation, and there are no 
traces of her having exercised further the independent 
power which she certainly possessed to enlarge or restrict 
the limits of kindred before the fourth or fifth century. 
The Council of Epaon (517) forbade marriages between 
second cousins, Gregory II (721) prohibited marriage 
with relations in general, and from the eighth to the elev- 

1 1 Cor. v, vii; 2 Cor. vi. 14. 



34 A SHOUT HI8T0ET OF MORAL THEOLOGY 

enth century the prohibition was extended to the seventh 
degree according to the canonical mode of reckoning. 
The fourth Council of Lateran (1215) restricted the pro- 
hibition to the fourth degree, and this law still remains 
in force. 

As the solemn celebration of marriage is not in keeping 
with penitential exercises, a council of Laodicea in the 
fourth century forbade the celebration of marriage during 
Lent. Subsequently the solemnization of marriage was 
forbidden from Septuagesima Sunday till the octave of 
Easter, during three weeks before the feast of St. John 
Baptist, and from Advent till after the Epiphany. There 
was a dispute as to the three weeks before the feast of St. 
John Baptist, and Clement III, at the end of the twelfth 
century, decided that the period was to be interpreted as 
extending from the Rogation Days till the Sunday after 
Pentecost. The Council of Trent 1 decreed that close time 
for the solemnization of marriage was to extend from Ad- 
vent till after the Epiphany, and from Ash Wednesday 
till after Low Sunday, and this is the modern disci- 
pline. 

We must not leave this first period in the history of Moral 
Theology without saying something about the Penitential 
Books which began to appear in the sixth century and sub- 
sequently became very numerous. They were intended as a 
help to Bishops and priests in their duty of imposing ca- 
nonical penances on sinners and reconciling them to God and 
the Church. At first they were little more than lists of 
sins with the appropriate canonical penance annexed to 
each sin. The quality and length of penance assigned were 

1 Sess. xxiv, c. 10. 



A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 35 

derived from the councils or from the canonical letters of 
St. Basil, St. Peter of Alexandria, St. Athanasius, and other 
Fathers of the Church. Afterward chapters were added 
containing short moral rules on a great variety of subjects, 
the method of receiving and dealing with penitents, and 
the method of reconciling them. They are of importance 
in the history of Moral Theology as furnishing a standard 
by which the malice of various transgressions was measured 
according to a great variety of circumstances. They fell 
into disuse with the gradual cessation of public penance in 
the Church. 

Section II 
The Scholastic Period 

It is not possible to indicate any particular year when 
the scholastic period began. We may say that the patristic 
period closed with the death of St. Bernard, the last of 
the Fathers, in the year 1153. Many of the characteristics 
of scholasticism, however, and especially the application of 
philosophy to the exposition and defense of theology are 
conspicuous in the works of many of the Fathers. In their 
work, too, of systematizing theology the schoolmen had 
many predecessors among the Fathers, and especially St. 
John Damascene and St. Isidore of Seville. Nor is the 
common assertion that the Fathers favored Platonism 
while the scholastics adopted Aristotelianism quite war- 
ranted by facts. Clement of Alexandria especially, and 
other Fathers as well, were eclectic as philosophers, and 
borrowed what they thought was true from any and every 
source. Still we may for practical purposes say that 
scholasticism began in the twelfth century. Then it was 



36 A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 

that the growth and development of theology began afresh. 
It had been interrupted for seven hundred years by the 
necessity of civilizing the barbarians who had broken up 
the Roman Empire and settled in its territories. From 
this time moral theology has come down to us in two dis- 
tinct channels. Peter Lombard may be looked upon as 
the fountain-head of the first stream, and St. Raymund of 
Pennafort of the second. 

Peter Lombard wrote his work on the Sentences between 
the years 1145 and 1150. He therein treats of the whole 
of theology, both dogmatic and moral. He wished to coun- 
teract the rationalizing tendencies which as a pupil of Abelard 
he had noticed in the schools of Paris. To the various and 
erroneous views which the spirit of rationalism had intro- 
duced, Peter opposed the traditional doctrine handed down 
in the writings of the Fathers. After much consideration, 
as he tells us, he found a guiding principle for the distribu- 
tion and ordering of the subject-matter of theology in a 
sentence of St. Augustine. Christian revelation, contained 
in the Holy Scriptures, has for its subject-matter either 
things or signs. Under signs come the sacraments, and 
things are either such as we have fruition of, or such as we 
use, or such as we both use and enjoy by fruition. Under 
the first head comes God, one in nature and three in person. 
Under the second come all created things, the angels, man, 
his end, fall, and redeeming grace. Under the third, the 
incarnation, faith, hope, charity, the seven gifts of the Holy 
Spirit, the Ten Commandments. The whole matter of 
theology is thus systematically arranged in four Books. 
Each Book is divided into Distinctions, devoted to some 
special point on which the traditional doctrine is laid down 
by quoting appropriate extracts (Sententice) from the 



A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 37 

works of the Fathers. Apparent or real differences of 
opinion are noted and as far as possible reconciled with 
each other. Although Hugo of St. Victor, Robert Pullen, 
and other theologians had previously composed similar 
books of Sentences, yet the work of Peter Lombard soon 
eclipsed them all in the welcome that it received. It re- 
mained the recognized textbook of theology until the end 
of the sixteenth century, when its place was taken by the 
"Summa" of St. Thomas. Nearly all the great scholastics 
wrote Commentaries on the " Sentences" of Peter Lom- 
bard, developing, illustrating, defending, and sometimes 
correcting the doctrine which they found there, especially 
from the speculative point of view. In these Commentaries 
and in the Summas of scholastic theology we have a most 
abundant and valuable source of the speculative side of 
Christian ethics. 

To meet the more practical and concrete needs of the 
confessor, St. Raymund of Pennafort composed his " Summa 
de Pcenitentia et Matrimonio," about the year 1235. He, 
also, merely collected and systematized the abundant 
material which had been left by his predecessors. He had 
no more intention of introducing changes into the traditional 
doctrines of Christianity than had Peter Lombard. But as 
his aim was not speculative but practical, he drew his mate- 
rial especially from Gratian's ' ' Decretum," from the decisions 
of Popes and the councils of the Church, as well as from the 
Fathers. The work "Be Pcenitentia" is divided into three 
Books. In the first Book sins against God are treated of, 
in the second sins against one's neighbor, and in the third 
irregularities, dispensations, purgations, sentences, pen- 
ances, and remissions. Each Book is divided into Titles, 
which contain an orderly and logical exposition of some 



38 A BHOBT HI8T0BY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 

particular subject. Thus in the first title on Simony, 
the edn is defined, the origin of the name is explained, the 
different kinds of simony are indicated, with the penalties 
incurred and the dispensations which may be obtained. 
Then follows a discussion of doubtful questions and cases. 
Finally some rules of law on the matter are laid down and 
explained. 

The work of St. Raymund was the first of those innumer- 
able handbooks written for the training and use of the con- 
fessor especially from the practical and casuistical point 
of view. Although in the treatment of the different titles 
the work of St. Raymund leaves little to be desired, yet it 
lacks something in orderly arrangement and incompleteness. 
These defects were soon made good by others. A Friar 
Minor, of Asti, in the north of Italy, composed the "Summa 
Astensis" in the year 1317. In the Roman edition of 1728 
it fills two volumes folio, and in its aim, in the matter which 
it contains, and in the method of treatment, it differs little 
from the handbooks of moral theology which are published 
at the present day. The matter is divided into eight Books. 
The first Book treats of divine and human law and contains 
the doctrine of the Ten Commandments. The second treats 
of virtues and vices, beginning with several titles devoted 
to human acts, voluntary and involuntary actions, to ex- 
pounding in what the goodness or malice of actions con- 
sists, and merit. The cardinal and theological virtues and 
the sins opposed to them are explained in detail. The third 
Book contains the doctrine on contracts and last wills; 
the fourth that on the sacraments in general, and on Bap- 
tism, Confirmation, and the Holy Eucharist. The treatise 
on Penance and Extreme Unction in the fifth Book contains 
also the doctrine on prayer, fasting, almsdeeds, restitution, 



A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 39 

and indulgences. That on Orders in the sixth Book treats 
also of churches and sacred vestments, ecclesiastical burial, 
parishes, prebends, tithes, of the various grades of the 
clergy and of religious and their obligations. Censures 
and ecclesiastical penalties occupy the seventh, and Mat- 
rimony the eighth Book. 

The dogmatic treatment of moral theology reached its 
high- water mark in the second part of the "Summa" 
of St. Thomas of Aquin. That marvelous production of 
genius has never been surpassed or even equaled as an 
exposition of the general principles of Christian ethics. 
Neither has the casuistic treatment of morals in general 
made much progress since the thirteenth century. Of 
course there have been numerous changes in discipline dur- 
ing the last six centuries, and these require to be noted in 
new moral treatises as they occur. There have also been 
some changes in theological opinion. As an illustration 
of such a change we may instance that concerning the use 
by superiors of knowledge gained from confession. St. 
Thomas and scholastic theologians commonly held that a 
superior who knew from confession of a dangerous occa- 
sion of sin to one of his subjects might use his authority 
to remove his subject out of the danger, provided that 
thereby he violated no principle of justice nor made known 
to others the sin which had been confessed to him. This 
opinion is now quite obsolete and it has been virtually 
condemned by the Holy See. 1 But in spite of some such 
changes in detail, the general assertion remains true that 
moral theology to-day is substantially what it was in the 
thirteenth or at the beginning of the fourteenth century. 

1 Supra, p. 232. 



40 A SHOUT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 

There is, however, one important exception to this general 
statement. That exception is due to the express formula- 
tion at the end of the sixteenth century of the doctrine of 
probabilism. 

We must, however, be on our guard against exaggerating 
the importance of probabilism and confounding it with 
moral theology in general. After all, probabilism is only 
concerned with the solution of doubtful questions. There 
is an immense body of moral doctrine which is certain 
and where probabilism or other similar theory of morals 
does not enter. There are also, it must be confessed, many 
doubtful questions, especially connected with the applica- 
tion of general rules to particular cases, and it is in the 
solution of these doubtful and disputed questions that 
probabilism is concerned. All Catholic divines state or 
take for granted the doctrine that it is sinful to act with a 
doubtful conscience, without making up one's mind that 
the action which is contemplated is morally right. This 
is the teaching of Holy Scripture: ''All that is not of 
faith," i.e. done with the conscientious conviction that 
it is right, "is sin," says St. Paul. 1 But if this be so, 
what are we to do in doubtful matters, where perhaps 
divines themselves disagree, and some teach that an action 
is right, while others assert that it is wrong ? In such cases 
we can only act, according to the doctrine of St. Paul, if 
we are able to make up our mind that the action is lawful 
and honest. How can this be done? 

Before the close of the sixteenth century, when Bar- 
tholomew a Medina published his "Exposition'" on St. 
Thomas, there was no commonly recognized method for 
forming one's conscience in doubtful matters. The 
1 Rom. xiv. 23. 






A SHOUT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 41 

"Summa Astensis" devotes the last title of the second 
Book to the subject of "Perplexities of Conscience." The 
author distinguishes perplexities of law from perplexities 
of fact. The former, he says, occur when there are two 
apparently contrary opinions about the lawfulness of an 
action, the latter when a man believes that in avoiding one 
sin he must perforce commit another. He has much to 
say about perplexities of fact, but about perplexities of 
law, which alone concern us here, he simply observes that 
they can be removed in whatever state a man may be, but 
he does not tell us how this may be done. He refers indeed 
to Alexander of Hales, who wrote before St. Raymund of 
Pennafort, and who in the article of his "Summa" devoted 
to the subject of "Conscience" tells us that a perplexity of 
law is to be removed by the unction of the Holy Spirit, 
who teaches concerning all things. 1 St. Raymund gives a 
more satisfactory rule and says shortly that a perplexity 
arising from a difference among Doctors is to be solved by 
reducing the contrary opinions to agreement, for there is 
no real but only apparent contradiction in law. This 
puts us on the right track; it tells us that for the solution 
of doubtful cases the theologians of the time followed the 
ordinary rules of legal interpretation, the chief among which 
was the rule of law which guided Gratian in the composition 
of the "Decretum" and Peter Lombard in his work on the 
Sentences, and which the Roman lawyers had expressed by 
saying that it is meet to make one law agree with another — 
Conveniens est jura juribus concordare. 2 

Although this was the chief rule of law to be followed 
when authorities differed, it was by no means the only one. 

1 Summa, ii, q. 120. 

2 L. unica, C, de inofficiosis dotibus. 



42 .1 SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 

Later authors, such as Angelus de Clavasio (1480), Sylvester 
Prierias (1516), and Xavarrus (1560) give lists of the differ- 
ent rules of law to be applied to the solution of doubtful 
- in different circumstances. We may take them from 
Xavarrus. as they are substantially the same in all the 
authorities of the time. ^Tien there are different opinions 
among Doctors, says Xavarrus in effect, that opinion should 
be preferred which is confirmed by custom, or grounded 
on a text of law, or which rests on an invincible argument. 
If none of these rules serves, then the common opinion should 
be followed, and that may be called a common opinion 
which six or seven approved authors adopt, though there 
may be fifty others who blindly follow each other like sheep 
against it, for weight and not number is mainly to be con- 
sidered in such questions. If that rule does not suit the 
case, then the opinion should be chosen which is backed 
by more numerous authorities and reasons; then that 
which is more lenient, or which favors marriage, a last will 
and testament, liberty, a private individual against the 
State, the validity of an act, or the defendant in an action 
at law. If in none of these ways one opinion is better than 
the other, then that should be adopted which the greater 
number of theologians follow if the matter belong to the- 
ology, or canonists if it belong to canon law, or civilians if 
it belong to civil law. To these rules Xavarrus adds the 
note that in the forum of conscience it is sufficient to choose 
as true the opinion of a man of virtue and learning. 1 

Sylvester Prierias tells us that all were agreed that when 
Doctors differed, a man might follow the opinion of one 
Doctor even though he was drawn to follow him by affection 

1 Manuale confessariorum, c. 27, n. 2SS. 






A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 43 

without subtle investigation into the grounds on which 
his opinion rested. 

While the Fathers of the Church, such as Gregory 
Nazianzen, and the schoolmen with St. Thomas solved 
particular cases of doubt in favor of liberty by applying 
the rule of probabilism that a doubtful law cannot impose 
a certain obligation, yet up to the time of Medina it was 
commonly held that in doubtful cases a man was bound to 
follow the opinion which seemed to him the better grounded 
or the more probable. The Dominican Bartholomew & 
Medina (1577) was the first to show that if it were a ques- 
tion of obligation, not of mere counsel, this was illogical. 
The more probable opinion may be the safer and better 
opinion, but we are not usually bound to take the safer or 
better way; we are at least allowed to take that which 
is good and safe. And a probable opinion is safe, for good 
and wise men see no sin nor danger of sin in it, else it would 
not be probable. So that a probable opinion may be 
followed even by one who knows and holds that the con- 
trary opinion is more probable. 

By these and other arguments Medina put probabilism 
on a firm basis, and the doctrine was at once received on 
all hands. It was the logical deduction from principles 
which all admitted, and so theologians of all schools ac- 
cepted it at once, though some of them do not seem at first 
to have realized its far-reaching consequences. Dr. Hall, 
who published his work "De Quinquepartita Conscientia" 
in 1598, accepted and defended the new principle, but he 
placed it side by side with the older methods of forming 
one's conscience which he copied from Navarrus. Of these 
methods he remarks that they are so many different ways 
of forming a probable opinion. He did not fully realize, as 



44 A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 

it seems, that the new principle was universal, and rendered 
the use of the old rules to a great extent unnecessary in 
the forum of conscience. The same may be said of Azor, 
who published the first volume of his " Institutiones 
Morales" in the year 1600. Other theologians, however, 
such as Vasquez, Suarez, Salon, Laymann, soon realized the 
significance of the new method, and proceeded to explain, 
develop, and on certain points to limit its application. It 
was seen that it can only be applied where the sole question 
is whether an act is sinful or not ; it may not be applied 
where an end must be attained and may not be placed in 
jeopardy, or where the validity of an act is in question, or 
where there is question of the certain right of another. 



Section III 
The Modem Period 

Almost the whole modern period from the opening of 
the seventeenth century is occupied with the controversy 
about the right system of moral theology. Modern re- 
search has confirmed the historical accuracy of the account 
of the origin of this dispute which Fr. Antony Terill or 
Bonville prefixed to his work "Regula Morum," published 
in 1676. Fr. Terill, S. J., was a learned and acute theo- 
logian who taught theology at the English College of the 
Society at Li&ge, now represented by Stony hurst and St. 
Beuno's. Besides his "Regula Morum" he published 
another work, "De Conscientia Probabili," in 1668. He 
was a good and conscientious man and had ample means 
of knowing the facts to which he testifies. According to 
Fr. Terill, until about the year 1638 practically all Catholic 



A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 45 

theologians of all schools accepted and taught probabilism. 
The only exception was the not very notable Italian Jesuit 
Comitolus, who published his "Responsa Moralia" in 1608. 
Comitolus taught probabiliorism and attributed the doctrine 
of probabilism quite falsely, to what he calls the shameful 
lapse of Armilla. The opinion of Comitolus passed almost 
unheeded, and there was peace and comparative harmony 
in the schools of morals. This peace began to be broken 
when the friends of Jansen were planning the publication 
of his famous book "Augustinus." The first of the five 
propositions which were extracted from that book and 
condemned by Innocent X in 1653 asserted that there were 
some laws of God which could not be observed even by the 
just, do what they would, and that God did not give grace 
to enable them to observe these laws. This heretical and 
blasphemous proposition, which made God a tyrant who 
gave orders which He knew could not be obeyed, was 
altogether out of harmony with the prevailing system of 
moral theology, and its Jansenist supporters began to 
attack probabilism in order to make an opening for their 
own rigoristic doctrine. According to Caramuel, who was 
at Louvain at the time and who wrote a book against 
them in 1639, they began to teach covertly that the use of 
probabilism was something new; that he who leaves the 
safe way and follows probabilism can not but be condemned 
by God; that opinions which are styled probable among 
us are not probable with God. The war between probabil- 
ism and antiprobabilism had broken out, a war conducted 
with the greatest heat and passion for two hundred years, 
and not even yet quite ended. The Louvain Doctors after 
the condemnation of "Augustinus" by the Holy See re- 
taliated by issuing their propositions against probabilism 



46 A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 

in 1G55. The strategy W9B the same as led Dollinger and 
Reusch to publish their work on "Moralstreitigkeiten," 
after the definition of Papal Infallibility. The war, how- 
ever, was soon carried into France where Jansenism had 
won the support of a few proud spirits of the highest in- 
tellectual gifts. Among these Pascal was pre-eminent, 
and he struck the hardest blow which probabilism has ever 
sustained by publishing his "Lettres Provinciales " in IG06, 
The book is unfair and misrepresents the doctrines which 
it attacks, but its wit and style gave it at once a place in 
the classical literature of the world. It was condemned 
by Alexander VII at Rome in 1657, but by non-Catholics 
it is still regarded as the last word on the subject of Catholic 
and especially Jesuit moral theology. 

Although the rise of Jansenism was the occasion of the 
outbreak of war, there were other causes also which con- 
tributed to the heat of the combat. Fr. Terill laments 
the disastrous laxity of opinion on moral questions which 
was conspicuous in many of the probabilist authors of the 
day. Many of these wrote books, not to expound the 
truth, but to attract attention to themselves and acquire 
notoriety. The means they employed for this purpose was 
the ventilation of new opinions in morals. By making 
use of the weak argument from similar cases they broached 
hitherto unheard of doctrines which were industriously 
collected by the casuists. The fact that somebody or other 
had said in his book that an opinion was probable and that 
it had not been condemned by the Holy See was held suffi- 
cient to merit for it a place among probable opinions in 
moral theology. Fr. Terill, himself a strenuous defender of 
probabilism, raised his voice against the inrush of laxity. 
He did much by his writings to improve the theory by 



A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 47 

stating and explaining it more accurately than had been 
done hitherto. He insisted that in order to be accepted as 
a rule of conduct it was not sufficient that an opinion should 
have some slight degree of probability, or should only be 
probably probable; it should be well grounded, seriously 
and solidly probable in the judgment of experts, of men of 
virtue and learning. The common method of proving prob- 
abilism by saying that one who acts on a probable opinion 
acts prudently, was objectionable on the theoretical side, 
and Terill improved it by making use of reflex principles, 
such as, "A doubtful law is not promulgated and can not 
bind." This eminent English Jesuit thus tried to stem the 
tide of laxity in an age of immorality by stating the theory 
of probabilism more accurately and limiting its use to its 
proper sphere. Other theologians with the same laudable 
end in view threw probabilism overboard altogether. 
This was especially the case with the theologians of the 
great Order of St. Dominic. A member of this Order 
had first formulated probabilism, as we have seen, and, as 
Salon testifies, other Dominicans were conspicuous as being 
the first to accept and teach it. The most famous Domin- 
ican theologians of the time, Ledesma, Banez, Alvarez, 
Ildephonsus, and others were all probabilists. No anti- 
probabilist Dominican was heard of till the year 1656. 
In that year a general Chapter of the Order was held at 
Rome and all the members were urged to adopt the stricter 
opinion in morals. From that time onward the chief 
Dominican theologians have almost without exception been 
probabiliorists. Among others are the well-known names 
of Mercorus, Gonet, Contenson, Natalis Alexander, Con- 
cina, Billuart, and Patuzzi, the adversary of St. Alphonsus 
Liguori. 



48 -1 8HOBT HI8TOBY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 

From the strife of parties different moral systems be- 
gan to emerge. Jansenist rigorism, which required direct 
moral certainty against the law to justify a departure from 
its observance, and which was not satisfied even with a 
most probable opinion in favor of the lawfulness of an ac- 
tion, was condemned by Alexander VIII in 1690. Laxism, 
which was satisfied with even a slightly probable opinion 
as a rule of conduct, had been condemned by Innocent XI 
in 1G79. Probabiliorism and probabilism together held 
possession of the field. At the beginning of the eighteenth 
century a few theologians such as Amort, Rassler, and 
Mayr, defended equiprobabilism. This system required 
an opinion in favor of liberty to be equally probable with 
that in favor of the law before allowing it to be used as a 
rule of morals. It would not allow any one to follow an 
opinion in favor of liberty which was distinctly less prob- 
able than that which favored the law. 

These three systems still have their defenders, and the 
last has acquired strength from the adhesion to it of St. 
Alphonsus in the later portion of his life. St. Alphonsus 
Liguori is recognized as the Doctor of moral theology 
as St. Thomas is of dogmatic. By his writings he drove 
out of the Church the last remnants of rigorism, and firmly 
established that common doctrine in moral theology which 
it has been the aim of the author to expound in these volumes. 
In spite, however, of general agreement, there are some 
points of detail which are still matter of controversy among 
moral theologians. 

St. Alphonsus was ordained priest in 1726 when he was 
thirty years of age. He had been taught the probabiliorist 
system of morals, but in the course of fifteen years of study 
and experience in the confessional he came to the conclu- 






A SHORT HISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 49 

sion that the system was false and harmful to souls. He 
then adopted probabilism, and mainly using recognized 
probabilist authorities, especially of the Society of Jesus, 
whom he acknowledged to be his masters in this branch of 
learning, he composed his chief work, the "Theologia 
Moralis." The first edition appeared in 1748, and a second 
and much enlarged edition was issued in 1753. In 1755 
St. Alphonsus published an elaborate dissertation on prob- 
abilism in which he proved the doctrine and refuted the 
objections commonly brought against it. He became 
bishop of St. Agatha of the Goths in 1762, and published 
another dissertation in which he appeared to adopt a new 
system of moral theology. While admitting that it is 
lawful to follow a solidly probable opinion, he denied that 
when in favor of the law there is an opinion which is cer- 
tainly and notably more probable than its opposite, this 
latter can be really and solidly probable. The question is 
one of fact. If this proposition be considered from the 
practical and concrete point of view, its practical truth 
may be admitted, and St. Alphonsus probably understood 
it in this sense. Furthermore, it may be admitted that the 
doctrine has its value in deciding when an opinion is solidly 
probable or not, and this was what St. Alphonsus intended. 
He wished to exclude laxism from his system, and he in- 
vented this formula for the purpose. Moderate probabil- 
ists secure the same end by stressing solidly when they 
require a solidly probable opinion for a lawful rule of action. 
Considered theoretically and logically, the formula of St. 
Alphonsus is open to attack, as it is not true that a greater 
probability, even if notable and certain, does necessarily 
deprive the opposite opinion of all solid probability. On 
this point there is still some difference of opinion between 



50 A SHORT UISTORY OF MORAL THEOLOGY 

simple probabilists and equiprobabilists, but the dispute 
has little to do with practical morals. The dissertation 
of St. Alphonsus was not inserted in the " Moral Theology " 
of the saint till it reached its sixth edition, and his change 
of formula made little change in the doctrine of his work. 
It remained substantially what it always had been — a 
great work on moral theology written by a moderate proba- 
bilist. 

Moral theology is still what St. Alphonsus left it. There 
is general agreement in the schools, a common doctrine which 
all accept ; it only remains to apply this to the social and 
political conditions which we see growing up around us. 

In this modern period of moral theology the sufficiency 
of attrition without any strictly so-called initial charity 
on the part of the penitent as a proximate disposition for 
the remission of sin in the sacrament of Penance may be 
considered as established. The changed conditions in our 
modern capitalist society have had their effect on moral 
questions, for morality must always take account of altered 
circumstances. Perhaps the chief result in this direction 
is that a practical solution has been attained of the long 
controversy about the lawfulness of taking interest for a 
loan of money. The lawfulness of the practice is now ad- 
mitted ; the only moral question is concerning the amount 
which may be exacted. The doctrine of the just price is 
applicable here; money, like other commodities, has in 
our modern capitalist society its just price. 



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51 



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PRINTED BY BENZIGER BROTHERS, New YORK. 



■ A M lid, pr i tl al. and an opportur.a instrument both for the student's 
training and for the ; D : inuous efficiency." — Ecclesiastical 

A MANUAL OF MORAL THEOLOGY 

For English -Speaking Countries. By Rev. Thomas Slater, S.J., St. Beuno's 
College, St. Asaph, with Notes in the Text on American Legislation by Rev. 
Michael Martin, S.J., Professor of Moral Theology. St. Louis University. 
Complete in Two Large, Handsome Volumes, each Volume with Full Alpha- 
betical Index. The Two Volumes, net, $5.50. 

Tli is epoch-making work has met with a reception such as lias seldom 
welcomed what may be considered an innovation in English ecclesiasti- 
cal literature. So great was the demand for it by the Reverend 
Clergy that two editions were sold in one month. 

WHAT THE CRITICS SAY 

"Every English-speaking student of moral theology will have suf- 
fered the annoyance and perplexity of repeated statements about the 
enactment of laws foreign to the Britisher or American, which could 
never affect him or his ministry. This book, on the other hand, 
informs him fully, as far as his religious duties are concerned, and 
in a simple and direct manner, of the bearing of English and American 
Law upon numerous points of conduct, and is silent about all other 
civil laws. A feature so characteristic renders the book invaluable, 
not to say indispensable, for priests in the British Isles and the United 
States. . . . Moreover, there is no professor of moral theology who 
will not be glad to study the up-to-date chapters on Loan, Interest, 
Sales, Insurance, etc. Two articles on the value of money and on 
the bankrupt's liabilities in conscience are sperially well done, and will 
be read with satisfaction and profit. Throughout the book we find 
ourselves in the fresh air of life, and dealing with the moral aspects 
of subjects referred to in the headlines of the daily papers, such as 
Employers' Liability, Sweating, Duties of Electors." 

— Catholic Book Notes, London. 

"Father Slater has held the Chair of Moral Theology at St. Beuno's 
College for the past sixteen years, and during that time has acquired 
a reputation for soundness and sobriety of judgment, which is thor- 
oughly well borne out by this book. We share his hope that his vol- 
ume will also be useful to non-Catholics, who have seldom trustworthy 
first-hand acquaintance with Catholic doctrine." — The Month. 

"Ab introductory and auxiliary to the seminarian's professional 
training, as supplementary to the priest's theological reading, as en- 
abling one who is fairly acquainted with the subject easily to review 
it. and, especially by reason of the visualizing power in which the 
vernacular usually surpasses a foreign tongue, to clarify and familiar- 
ize the matter, the work is unquestionably serviceable. Although pri- 
marily intended for Catholic students and priests, the book, it may 
also be hoped, will be nsefa] to non-Catholics — especially the Anglican 
clergy who, having of late years attempted to introduce the practice 
of confession amongst their people, are sadly at a loss for some 
medium of self-instruction and guidance. Unfamiliar as they often 
are with scholastic Latin, and having at their command in English 
only imperfect excerpts or compends drawn by their profes-or^ from 
Catholic writers, they will welcome the present superior manual." — 
Ecclesiastical Review. 



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